440 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



interior radicle, descending. — An insipid, punctuate shrub, with 

 alternate, simple leaves. — (1 genus.) 



In these fourteen series, comprising a hundred and twenty-three 

 genera, 1 the characters which serve to separate them from each other 

 are, as we have seen : those drawn from the consistence of the stem, 2 

 the arrangement of the leaves upon it, the presence or absence of 

 stipules, the bitter flavour of the parts (particularly the leaves), or 

 the existence of glandular-pellucid punctures, generally the channel 

 of the aromatic or fetid odour ; 3 the mode of inflorescence, herma- 

 phrodite or declinous nature of the flowers, the shape of the floral 

 receptacle, and consequently the insertion of the stamens ; 4 the 

 number of parts in the perianth and their pignoration, the number 

 of stamens and of the verticils according to which they are arranged, 

 the independence or union of their filaments, the presence or absence 

 at their base of an interior scale, and of a gland at the summit of the 

 anthers sometimes fertile sometimes sterile. The form and size of the 

 disk, hypogynous or rarely perigynous ; the independence or union 

 of the carpels in all their extent, or only in the ovary ; the number 

 of the ovules, their direction and that of their various parts, their 

 anatropy, more or less complete, or almost nil. 5 The consistence 

 and mode of dehiscence of the pericarp, the presence or absence of 

 altumen in the seeds, and the straight or curved form of the 

 embryo. 



Almost all these genera belong to warm countries. 



This is the 



1 Deducting those insufficiently known, or 

 having been wrongly ascribed to this group, and 

 which besides the doubtful types already con- 

 sidered are the following : — ■ 



1. Pseudiosma (DC, Prodr., i. 718, n. 75; — 

 A. JtJsS., in Mem. Mus., xii. 519 ; — Endl., 

 Gen., n. 5981), proposed as Diusma asialica 

 Loue. (Fl. Coch., 200), a plant excluded from 

 the genus Diusma by De Candolle, unknown to 

 us, and belonging perhaps to the genns JEvodia. 



2. Uuegelia (K. 13k., in Fluid. Voy., ii. 

 516; — Endl., Gen., n. G013), a plaiffc with 

 10-iuerous perigynous calyx and corolla (which 

 is perhaps a species of Homalium ?). 



3. Amblyorhinum (Tuecz., in Bull. Mosc. 

 (1852), 1G8) wrongly cited (Walp., Ann., vii. 

 50G) among the Itidacea, is a species of 

 Valeriana. 



4. Systemon (Reg., Ind. Sem. Hort. Petrop. 

 (1856), 38;— \V.\Li'., Ann., vii. 5U5), which we 

 have recognised from an authentic specimen for 

 a species of Seritii ra. 



5. Bouzetia Montrops, in Mem. Acad. 

 Lyon, x. 192.— B. H., Gen., 9S9 (Suriana ?). 



- Their structure, although so interesting, has 

 not been much studied. [See Miub., JElem. de 

 Physiol. VSffSt., t. 13, 1 (Ailantus) ; — Lindl., 

 Veg. Eingd., 479 (Guaiacum)~]. Tii^CUL has 

 carefully studied the vessels proper of Ailanttts, 

 Ptelea, and Brucea (in Comp. Rend. Acad. 

 Sc, lxv. 17; in Adansonia, ix. 121). — Oliv., 

 Stem. P/icot., 9. 



8 Upon the value of these characters see 

 Adansonia, x. SCO. 



4 They are generally hypogynous; but when 

 the floral receptacle becomes concave this 

 arrangement is not very noticeable; it is, how- 

 ever, clearly defined in several Buronias and 

 P>iosmas. 



3 Several Boronias are almost completely 

 anatropous, especially Boronella and Zieridium 

 (see Adansonia, x. 302). 



